The spring that followed it was lovely. One day I remember especially for its joyous brightness. The garden was green and blooming; Kate sat sewing on the bench by the house; I stood at the door looking down the lane. The hawthorn hedge that faced the west was ready to break out in blossom; the sun was warm; the air clear; the south-western wind was gently blowing; the newly leaved trees seemed rejoicing in a second birth; afar, through the stillness of this quiet place, the cuckoo's voice was faintly heard. I know not why I record these things, save that there is a portion of our hearts to which the aspects of this lovely world ever cling, and that, as I stood there looking, Cornelius came up the lane. He had gathered the ripest hawthorn bough; he gave it to me smiling; entered and sat down on the bench by his sister: I sat on a step at their feet. For awhile they talked of indifferent things, then he said-- "Kate, will you sit to me?" "What for?" she asked, looking rather startled. "A little oil painting: subject, Mother and child. You we to be the mamma, Daisy the child." "Where will you send it?" "To the Academy, of course. Can you give me early sittings?" "I can; but can Daisy?" I saw his face express keen disappointment, and I said eagerly-- "I shall get up early, Cornelius; with dawn; I shall not mind a bit." "Nonsense, you shall get up at your usual hour--and there's an end of it." "Cornelius, may I speak to you?" "No:" he started up, walked across the garden, came back and threw himself down, exclaiming-- "It will never be finished, never!" "Cornelius," I said again, "let me speak to you _now_." "Speak, and have done with it," he said, impatiently. "If I go to bed early, may I not get up early? Early to bed and early to rise, you know." He bent on me a face that lit with sudden gladness. "And will you really do that for me?" he asked eagerly. "Will you, who hate going to bed early, do that for my sake?" "Oh yes, Cornelius, and be so glad to help you a little!" "God bless you, my good little girl!" cried Cornelius, as he caught me up in his arms, and accompanied the benediction with a warm kiss, "I shall never forget that, never!" He looked touched and delighted. He who had heaped so many kindnesses on me, was as quick to feel this little proof of my grateful affection, as though he had done nothing to call it forth. "Now, is not that good of her?" he said to Kate, "to offer to go to bed early just as she is beginning to stay up that half-hour later? Is it not good of her?" "She shall be put to the test this very evening," replied Kate, smiling. I stood the test with a heroism only to be equalled by my patience as a sitter on the following morning. I was as submissive as Kate was rebellious. "Kate," once remonstrated her brother, "will you do nothing for Art,--not even to sit quietly?" "Nonsense!" she impatiently replied.